Clandestine Guardian
by SecretJulia123
Summary: In the aftermath of the St. Vlad attack, Dimitri is still a dhampir, but Rose is unable to choose him and Lissa. Rose leaves them, but years later guardians are called to defend the Royals when the Court is attacked. Its up to Rose to keep the Strigoi from gaining the upperhand with her shadow-kissed abilities and to keep her loves from finding out her real motive for leaving.
1. Chapter 1

_**Dimitri was never turned into a Strigoi, but Rose and Lissa did fight and Rose left for Russia. This is a story of my own creation, but all of the characters belong to Richelle Mead. Along with my own words, I added in some of Mead's to tie in with the real series.**_

Chapter 1:

I awoke with a start, covered in sweat. I shivered, wrapped my arms around my knees and rested my head against them. Lissa had been having nightmares again, about me leaving. Her words continued to echo throughout my head, _"You're supposed to be my guardian and go with me to college. You're shadow-kissed. We're supposed to be together. If you leave me…" _

My counter-argument, "_If I leave you, they'll give you another guardian. Two of them. You're the last Dragomir. They'll keep you safe." _

_ "But they won't be you ,Rose." _And then she had tried to compel me to stay with her. Her green eyes, so bright and suddenly she didn't seem so unreasonable.

_"Stop it! Do _not _use compulsion on me. You're my friend. Friends don't use their powers on each other." _

_ "Friends don't abandon each other." _Lissa snapped, fists clenching. _"If you were my friend, you wouldn't do it." _

_ "This time it's not about you! This time it's about me! Not you. I've lived my life for you. I've trained to be your shadow, but you know what? I want to come first. I need to take care of myself for once." _

Lissa's eyes began to tear, but I avoided them in case she tried to use compulsion on me again. _"You're choosing him over me." _My heart ached to comfort her, but it was time for her to take care of herself for once.

_"I'm choosing neither of you. I'm leaving Lissa, I'm leaving. I don't know when, or if, I'll be back. I love you, Lissa. I love Dimitri. But I can't choose. I'm sorry, but this is what I have to do." _ And I left her crying.

I took a deep breath and glanced at the clock. Two hours until I had to meet Abe and switch guardians. My achy muscles protested with the movement, but I made it to the shower and stood in the steaming hot water for twenty minutes.

An hour later, I was sitting across from my father at a little café, watching the people that walked in and ordered. I let off his other guardian early to spend some time with Abe. He wore his natural vibrant-colored scarf and tailored suit and jacket. Today's scarf was beautiful crimson and reminded me of the attack at St. Vlad's.

The massacre. The blood. Abe watched me carefully and wondered aloud, "You're awfully quiet today. Lacking your usual charm."

I watched his gold earring glint in the slow sunlight. St. Petersburg, named for Tsar Peter the Great after he built it, was lovely around this time. It was cold enough that we had to wear jackets, but it wasn't blizzard weather.

"I think you'll manage without my sarcastic remarks." He half-smiled and stood. I followed him out the door. We meandered through the street, stopping occasionally to stare at the storefronts.

"Would you like a diamond bracelet?"

I glared at him. "If you keep buying me gifts, people are going to start thinking you're my sugar daddy."

For once, Abe made no comment. Instead, he told me, "Have you heard?"

"What?"

"I have been told that there was an attack at the Court in the states."

"How do you know?" There was no telling who Abe had in the U.S. or in the Court eavesdropping on the Queen whispering all of her secrets to Abe. I didn't understand how I did not know already, since I had just gone back to St. Isaac's to teach a training class. Surely they would have heard about it and informed the instructors.

"Is that relevant?" Abe asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Well—"

"Princess Vasilisa Dragomir's guardians were killed." I nearly jumped, but quickly remembered that Dimitri was Christian's guardian, not hers. Plus, Dimitri was pretty badass. I had a hard time seeing him be overtaken.

Still, the death of two guardians was a tragedy. There were so few, especially women. Last I checked, Lissa's had a female guardian named Selene that was very competent. She certainly had a better track record than me. While my Strigoi count was larger, she never ran away from her school or withdrew from it.

"So? Why are you telling me?" I was ready for him to get to the point and quit dancing around the subject.

"Rose." He stopped walked and turned to look at me. I made a quick glance of our surroundings, staying cautious. "I know you are not happy here in Russia."

"I don't know about that, old man."

"I know about you and Dimitri, too. I know this place reminds you of him—and Vasilisa. You're torturing yourself here."

I glared at him. His dark skin and hair was so similar to mine it still felt strange to me. "Does my mom know that I met you?"

"No,"

"Fine. What does the attack have to do with me?"

Abe smiled, knowing he had me hooked. "Guardians are strongly requested to go. They believe there is still a threat of attack."

"You want me to go!" I cried unceremoniously, mouth gaping open.

"Of course."

"Who will protect you?"

Abe told me, "While I can never replace you as a daughter, I can quickly find your job replacement." He smiled and touched my chin. I quickly snapped my mouth shut, jerking away from him. "I know this hurts, Rose, but it really is for the best. You need to make things right with your friends and Dimitri."

"Why do you keep saying his name like that?" And I meant with a tone of anger and disdain.

"How old is he again?"

"You're unbelievable." But I didn't fight because I knew that it was time to return. I'd been gone for the last of my senior year and then some. Now, at nineteen almost twenty, my grudge had finally flamed out. If I was needed, I would go.

* * *

I said good-bye to my father at a private airport for St. Isaac's Academy. There, many other guardians had gathered to board their flight. Abe was standing with his new guardian, a beefy man who wore a laughable suit and dark sunglasses.

"I can't believe you're getting rid of me."

"Rose," Abe didn't look quite as dangerous as he usually did, but he still had a glint of hardness in his eyes. To my shock, he began to unwind one of his nicer scarves from around his neck. It was cashmere and woven with many bright colors. I thanked him, although I tried to refuse.

Then I boarded the plane.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry if I wasn't clear before. This takes place after Shadow Kissed. Dimitri is still a dhampir, Lissa graduated from St. Vlad's, and Rose went to Russia to finish her schooling. **

Chapter 2:

The last hour of our plane ride was a briefing. A pretty blonde Alchemist stood next to an older man of the same background, watching us all with some sort of disdain. They seemed uncomfortable around us, but there were at least three other Alchemists in a private cabin. After the man finished highlighting the most gruesome points of the attack, like during the slideshow of bloody pictures, she stepped forward to give her speech.

She cleared her throat, "In about forty-five minutes, you will be landing at the Vampire Court's private airport. Before that, I will give out your assignments. Many of you will be assigned to Moroi as their guardians while others might be tasked with keeping out other threats to the Court. Your assignment is based upon your knowledge of defense and of the court's royal system. They have been pre-assigned by officials of the Court and finalized today at St. Isaac's.

"As I call your name, please stand and my colleague and I will hand out your assignment. Forgive me for any mispronunciations." She began to recite name after name. Many I did not recognize, but some were semi-familiar. When my name rang out, many turned their heads to glance at me.

Unfortunately, it was common knowledge around St. Petersburg that I was a dropout and I nearly had to beg my way into St. Isaac's Academy. Many thought I had been scarred from the St. Vlad attack, which had been broadcast to every other vampire academy throughout the world in hopes of preventing another. Apparently, it hadn't. They also knew me because, while I was a total screw-up, I was one of the best trained and most qualified guardians out there.

Even the Alchemist girl knew who I was and met my eyes when she handed me my slip. Finally, all of the guardians in the plane had received their folders. "Now, once you leave the plane, you will report to the main court. There will be someone to show you the way. The severity of the attack at the Court is still fresh to the witnesses, but your sacrifice and help is greatly appreciated."

We all knew how horrible the whole thing was. Something like this had never happened before and many people, Moroi and guardian alike, had died in the massacre. Many had also been kidnapped, but it was foreseen that they were likely dead.

That is how most of the guardians thought when the Strigoi had come to St. Vladimir and taken many of our people. We saved many, but lost guardians. I can still remember the relief of seeing Dimitri drag an unconscious Moroi from the cave. My heart aches now, thinking of him.

I shake it off and look at my assignment. With a quick flick of the cover, it reveals the identity of my new charge. My father must have done something to make it so. My heart, which had been previously yearning for Dimitri, drops to my stomach when I see the picture and read the name, over and over again.

"Who did you get?" asks the male dhampir next to me.

I read it again, just to make sure I had it right.

_Princess Vasilisa Dragomir _

* * *

As the Alchemist girl told us, we were led to the main court. Many people stopped and stared at us as we walked quietly down the busy hallway. The first doors we went through led us into the first structure, which was almost an indoor mall, with café's, shops, and other areas for vampires to congregate.

I was one of many. We waited in a large lobby open to most of the court. Planes had been arriving for several hours now, said one guardian who had been there for over three hours. I had no idea how she could stand here for that long without going insane. I was bored after just thirty minutes. I blinked out of the conversation to check on Lissa.

She was with Adrian. They were in their practice room. I was always pleased to see how much progress those two were making with spirit. Oksana, a woman my father knew in Russia, had told me a lot about spirit and her shadow-kissed husband. I had hoped someday to be able to relay the information to Lissa, and now I had the opportunity.

Adrian could now grow a full plant, although healing people seemed to escape him in the way that dreams eluded Lissa. Sometimes their practices amused me, but this one seemed too serious.

It was silent, so quiet that it rang in Lissa's mind. It was wrong, Lissa thought, that they were so quiet when they had so much to talk about today. There was so much on her mind. Will Rose be here? Will she forgive me for everything I did to her? Is she ever going to come back? She wanted to relay these feelings to Adrian, but for some reason she held back.

Until, "Just tell me, cousin."

"Do you think she's here?" Lissa blurted, and then looked away as if she had done something wrong. She had been busy all day with the Queen and Adrian's lessons that she hadn't had a chance to look at the guardians arriving.

"There's only one way to find out. We should go down." Adrian was gentle with his suggestion, but we could both tell he was curious to find out who was her assignment. Adrian had one guardian, but he was not top priority like Lissa.

"I haven't seen her yet, but a new batch just came in." They turned to see Christian leaning in the doorway with Dimitri. Lissa's anxiety peaked, but I could feel her cave in. She knew she would have to go down eventually, so she figured now was as good a time as any.

"Alright,"

I jumped out of her head at her last decision. Within minutes I could feel them inching closer to finding me, seeing me, and hating me. I panicked and fled, rushing back through court, but that only brought us closer. I could feel Lissa through the bond, only a couple of yards away. Then I saw her, just a glance as she came down a stairwell, her hand in Christian's. I steered away, pushing the doors to the outside open.

It was pouring down rain, but I ran anyway, just to get away from her. Soon I became drenched and blinded, but found my way to another building. This one was for the residents, but there weren't many people about today. There was a receptionist at the desk right as I entered who gasped at my disheveled appearance.

We stared at each other for half a second before I yelled, "Brrr! Sure is cold outside!"

"It's raining," she said dryly.

"Oh, look, a fireplace." I hurried over there and pulled a chair up to the huge fire. I began to warm immediately. I could feel the girl's eyes on my back. I sat there for a long time before the rain finally ceased. I felt Lissa and knew she was nowhere near me, but new planes were dropping from the sky now that the weather was clearer.

I stood and stared out the window. It was daytime in the vampire world, although it was actually dark. There was an eerie quality about the night as I walked back to the main building trying to avoid puddles.

Then, suddenly, I felt a sickness overwhelm me. I forced down vomit and turned around just in time to avoid a hard punch to the back of my neck. I ducked when the Strigoi swung again, dodging her and almost losing my balance. I had no time to contemplate why there was a Strigoi still on the premises.

I went on the offense, trying to avoid her swift blows. I could make out her pale white skin and blood-red eyes in the light. She was losing time. I knew she would make a fatal mistake soon in her haste to escape.

Her eyes changed, straying to the side and I took the opportunity. I swung as hard as I could, hitting her in the jaw and backwards. I grabbed my stake, hidden in my jacket and kicked her in the gut. She couldn't get the wind knocked out of her, but it still hurt. Apparently her blood deprivation had weakened her. She cried out and bent over, fangs protruding. I kneed her in the face and grabbed her hair, throwing her on the ground.

She gasped, eyes widening as I stabbed her in the heart. I drove the stake deep into her chest cavity. She screamed, bursting my eardrums.

My ears were ringing when she finally stopped and died.

I was no longer nauseous, so I felt there were no more Strigoi. I stood and took several steps back. There was murmuring all around me. None of that mattered. I looked up and met dark, nearly black eyes. Gasping, I felt my heartbeat rise even more than it was.

There were guardians all around us. Alarms were going off. But we just stared at each other. It was just us standing there, together at last after two years of being apart.

Dimitri whispered, "Roza,"


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for all of the positive reviews! It really helps me when I'm writing the next chapter! I also appreciate critical reviews because it helps me become a better writer. I'm not the kind of author who doesn't want negative feedback for their story. Here's the next chapter! I'm hoping to get a few more done by the end of this week! I also tried to incorporate a couple of quotes from the real **_**Vampire Academy **_**series. **

Chapter 3:

Someone pushed passed me to examine the body. He was a guardian, I think, and made sure the Strigoi was dead. I finally broke eye contact with Dimitri and stared at the vampire I had just killed. She was slight in stature, but seemed tall. I thought she was probably a Moroi when she turned.

"There's a dead body in the resident hall." Someone called and my heart sank. The receptionist. I had taken out this Strigoi, but it was already too late for her.

I shook myself out of my stupor from seeing Dimitri and turned to the guardian I figured was in charge. The same man who had inspected the Strigoi handed me my stake. I took it and nodded at him, still upset about the girl. "How did the Strigoi get into Court again?" he asked me or anyone who was listening.

Dimitri, whose presence was undeniable, said, "She must have been hiding until she thought she could escape." His masculine stature made my stomach tumble. I could feel my own self-awareness of him growing with every second I was in his proximity.

I needed to get away from him. This was too much too soon. I didn't think I was ready. I assumed wrong, because I acted in the exact way I was trained in a situation like this. The court went on total lockdown, but everything was chaos. Once all of the Moroi were settled into their "safe-zones," half of the guardians did another sweep through every annex.

We split off into groups. I avoided Dimitri as much as possible, but he found a way into my group. Our assignment was to secure the guest resident hall. There were about fifteen of us that checked the second floor. Stake at the ready, Dimitri and I entered our first room and began our sweep.

Dimitri knew the seriousness of the situation, however, and rarely spoke unless to say something was clear. I was sweating out of every pore, but I doubted it was from the stress of making sure everyone was safe.

When he did finally speak to me, we had moved on to the next room. It wasn't to ask if I had seen Lissa or what I had been up to the past two years or why I was here.

Simply, "I missed you,"

Tears, actual tears, filled my eyes, but I swallowed my emotion and maintained my guardian mask of stoniness.

"Rose," I peered into the bathroom of the suite, pushed the bath curtains back, and checked all of the cabinets and the closet.

"Clear," I called and exited, only to run right into the man of my dreams. I gasped and tried to pull back, but he grabbed my arms to stop me.

"How can you act like this? Do you know how overjoyed I am to see you? I haven't looked at your face in two years. I haven't felt your skin or touched your lips or… brushed your hair from your cheeks." I tried to hold my eyes open as his strong hand traced the side of my face, but they flickered in ecstasy anyway.

My heartbeat was going as fast as hummingbird wings and all I wanted to do was kiss him. All I could do was stare into his eyes and lose myself. Then I realized how much of him I had been missing these past years. I missed his Zen lessons and how he always had a reasonable answer to my question. I missed fighting with him, verbally and physically.

I wanted to do so much with and to him—tell him so much, but I had to hold back. I turned my head away so I could breathe. "We have another room to check."

Dimitri let me go and took a step back, finally seeing the person I had become. "Fine," he left the room, in all of his godlike badass-ness. I sighed and followed in a resigned manner.

The rest of the sweep was finished swiftly and our group reconciled on the main floor. I felt defeated in my argument with Dimitri. He was stoic, like nothing at all had happened between us. This was just like what I imagined our reunion would be, only much worse. I could not imagine the sick feeling in the pit of my gut, telling me I was stupid for not trusting Dimitri of all people.

Once we were back in the main building, the new guardians left to find their room assignments. We would not share with our Moroi, although that probably should have been protocol in a situation such as the emergency we were facing. Many of the guardians who hadn't been assigned a Moroi would be keeping a watch during sleeping hours.

My father never operated on vampire hours, so I would have to grow used to this change. It was decided that we would meet with our new charges the next day in the huge dining hall during the breakfast hour.

Only the Queen would be able to organize a meet and greet during a time like this.

Any thought of the Queen made me want to shudder, but I ignored the need and followed our new guide. A pretty Moroi girl with brown hair showed everyone their rooms in the same building Dimitri and I had just checked.

My belongings were waiting for me on the bed. I sat next to my suitcase and put my face in my hands, trying to tell myself things would be okay. I could still feel Dimitri's hands on my arms, holding me to him. I felt stupid for letting him when I should have been strong enough to push him away.

But why would I want to? Why do I need to push him away when all I want to do is tell him everything and let him hold me?

"Don't be stupid," I told myself. To keep myself busy, I began unpacking. Once I finally got Dimitri off of my mind, I remembered Lissa. I would be finally meeting her again tomorrow. Only the dhampir knew their assignments.

I couldn't sleep although I was tired. Then there was a knock at the door. Panic mode. Is it Lissa? Dimitri? I swallowed and opened the door, surprised.

"What are you doing here?"

Adrian grinned ear to ear, smelling of cloves and alcohol. Somehow that was welcoming. "Oh, just came to see your lovely face."

"How did you know I was here?"

Adrian scoffed as if I was an idiot. "I asked." He moved around the room, inspecting it. "You should try it sometime, instead of beating people up to get answers."

I halted, suddenly recalled the Strigoi. I realized he must have known when he visited my dreams. I let it slip during one of our conversations. "I guess I should be glad you only visited me about once a week."

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder, Rose. Don't want you to take me for granted."

"We're in no danger of that; don't worry."

He laughed hard, and loud. I was afraid someone would hear him. "Oh, how I've missed you, little dhampir!"

"Tell me why you're really here."

The bed creaked when he jumped onto it, crossing his ankles and throwing his arms behind his head. "Who's your assignment?"

Surprise instantly hit, and anger along with it. "You had something to do with this, didn't you?"

"What?" he looked earnest, but I doubted he was really being serious. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Rose."

Snorting, I rolled my eyes. "You're a terrible liar, Adrian. You'll find out who my charge is tomorrow during breakfast."

I kicked him out then, and sat down on the bed, arms crossed in unreasonable irritation. Shit.


End file.
